What date is inscribed on the Statue of Liberty's tablet?

The date inscribed on the Statue of Liberty’s tablet is July 4, 1776.

Bartholdi chose this date to identify the adoption of the United States Declaration of Independence. The tablet uses Roman numerals—JULY IV MDCCLXXVI—rather than spelling out the date in modern English. Its rectangular form is a tabula ansata, an ancient design associated with inscriptions and legal or commemorative text.

The inscription is not the date the statue was unveiled. France formally presented the completed statue in Paris on July 4, 1884, and it arrived in New York in 1885. President Grover Cleveland dedicated it on October 28, 1886. Those dates are common mix-ups, but the tablet deliberately points back to American independence.

The tablet is held in Liberty’s left arm, while her raised torch represents enlightenment. At her feet, a broken chain and shackle evoke the abolition of slavery after the Civil War, adding another layer to the monument’s symbolism.